In the beginning of "Avengers: Infinity War", Thanos and the Hulk had a very intense fight:

While the Hulk fights like he's brawling in the street, Thanos is more composed and posing in stances like in most martial arts, so he seems to be using a specific fighting technique. Moreover, his style looks like something between boxing and/or krav maga, but the fight ends quickly so unfortunately we only see a few of Thanos' moves, as

he easily beats the crap out of the Hulk.

So my question is: What is exactly Thanos' fighting technique?

In-Universe info would be preferable, but out-of-Universe would be also ok if the former is not available.

2 Answers
2

I don't have a direct answer of a style, but this breakdown doesn't note anything exotic in the movements, pointing out that it's generic, if well choreographed, upright striking like you might see in an MMA bout, almost all hands until the head grab into the knee strike.

I believe it to be judo.
He seems to understand judo, judging by how he uses Hulk's weight against him, and seeing as how he uses a lot of grappling while fighting, such as when he fights Tony on Titan.

Interesting guess, but I doubt Thanos would know judo, so do you have any references/quotes to support this? That would greatly improve your answer.
– Rebel-ScumApr 10 at 19:57

4

@Rebel-Scum As a martial artist, I would bid you to take "Judo" rather as a label for "an effective grappling art". Due to physical and biomechanical constraints, there are only so many ways to effectively grapple and people all around the world ended up with more or less the same wrestling techniques, because these are the ones that work. The gist of the answer is that he used grappling against a heavy, strong opponent to dominate him instead of striking, which makes a lot of sense. (19 years on the mats here)
– Philip KlöckingApr 10 at 20:35

Seeing as how I'm less than fifteen, I think it was an alright answer.
– Chungo BungoApr 11 at 16:48